Questões de Concurso Sobre interpretação de texto | reading comprehension em inglês

The text below is part of the Japanese tale “My Lord Bag of Rice”:

“Long, long ago there lived in Japan a brave warrior known to all as Tawara Toda or “My Lord Bag of Rice”. His true name was Fujiwara Hidesato and there is a very interesting story of how he came to change his name. One day he went out in search of adventures because he had the nature of a warrior and could not bear to be idle. So he picked up his two swords, took his huge bow, which was much taller than himself, in his hand, strapped his quiver on his back and started out.

He had not gone far when he came to the bridge of Seta-no-Karashi crossing one end of the beautiful Lake Biwa. As soon as he stepped on the bridge, he saw lying right across his path a huge serpent-dragon. Its body was so big that it looked like the trunk of a large pine tree and it took up the whole width of the bridge. One of its huge claws rested on the parapet of one side of the bridge while its tail lay right against the other. The monster seemed to be asleep, and as it breathed, fire and smoke came out of its nostrils.

At first, Hidesato could not help feeling alarmed at the sight of this horrible reptile lying in his path, for he must either turn back or walk right over its body.” 

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The Literary Influences of Superstar Musician David Bowie

BY JOHN O'CONNELL ON 10/31/19 AT 5:00 AM EDT

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Available in: https://www.gocomics.com, accessed on February 18th, 2020. Garfield by Jim Davis

Read the text below in order to answer the question.

Chapter 3

CYBER-SCHOOLING AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE

Multiliteracies for new times

Carmen Luke

Introduction: technological innovation and dissemination

   In the last few years, talk about the information superhighway has saturated the media, the marketplace, and the public imagination. Social critics and commentators tell us we are in the midst of a technological and information revolution which will change for ever the way we communicate and conduct our everyday affairs. But what is the information revolution? How do the new technologies impact on our lives now and what might these changes mean for the future? What might all this mean for education, for teachers and students, for teaching and learning?

   My aim in this chapter is to provide a guided tour of a range of issues currently being raised about new information technologies (IT) and computer mediation communications (CMC), in relation to schooling and literacy. What is interesting in current debates is that researchers and social commentators are looking at much broader and more long-term social and cultural consequences of the impact of CMC. Even among educators, concerns are not confined exclusively to pedagogical and curriculum issues. It seems that questions about the significant and permanent social changes seeping into every crevice of our everyday work and private lives are on everyone's mind. Many of the issues that are being raised today, and which I will sketch out here, deal with abstract notions about the virtual and 'real'; about time and space; about 'body-less' interactions and comunities of learners; about global access, global culture, and so forth. But despite what appears to be a highly abstract debate, it nonetheless has concrete implications for schooling as we know it and all the traditional industrial model precepts and practices developed within that model. And yet the radical technological changes we now hear about in the media - most of which are framed in either a technophobic 'crisis' or else protechnology 'panacea' rhetoric - have been with us for quite some time.

   Of all the innovations in communications technologies over the past two decades, the video cassette recorder (VCR), computer, and now the global network of the Internet have had the most profound effect on home entertainment, education, and workplace practice.

[...]

   Today, the Internet is generating equally profound changes in the way we communicate, and how we access, produce, and distribute information and knowledge. Yet the Internet too is generating virulent responses from the public and social critics about its 'anarchic' nature: the inability to control it, to censor it, to manage and limit it. The Internet gets a lot of bad press particularly in relation to that age-old concern over various forms of pornography, privacy and sexual harassment, issues concerning 'electronic stalking', and questions of ownership, monopoly, and unequal access. By the same token, the huge educational (and entrepreneurial) potential of the Internet - popularised as the information superhighway - often gets lauded to the point of blind faith.

   Literacy requirements have changed and will continue to change as new technologies come on the marketplace and quickly blend into our everyday private and work lives.

[...] 

Read the text and choose the correct answer.

 English learners and the four skills

When it comes to English language skills, reading is the most frequent activity - among those that already study and those that intend to, 76% read frequently. Many however, report difficulties with conversation and listening - even among those that have already studied or are studying English. The respondents' selfassessments show that the greatest difference between those that have studied or are currently studying English and those that intend to in the future is the skill of 'listening'. Those intending to study English considered this the area that they are least proficient in. The perception that their speaking ability is insufficient led the participants to cite speaking (50% of respondents) and listening (37% of respondents) among the skills that are most important to develop in a course. This is perceived to be more important than grammar. The preferred methods of teaching tend to be those that stimulate conversation; respondents prefer classes in English that "force" the development of the students' abilities. Respondents tended to think that this conversation should be stimulated before going in-depth into language and grammar rules. To them, the best way of practicing this is discussing current affairs directly relevant to their professional and personal lives. The reduced importance placed on writing and reading relative to speaking is also attributable to the availability of tools for written communication.

Frequency of use of English skill 

BRITISH COUNCIL. Learning English in Brazil: Understanding the aims and expectations of the Brazilian emerging middle classes. 1 st Edition, São Paulo. 2014 (p.22)